The Lost Mirror

Chapter 8

She ached. More than she had ever reached before. They had been riding for a good 4 hours straight, without a break and her body...or Princess Jade's body was not thanking her for it. Nothing more had been said in that time which would have usually bothered her but it hadn't. She was still processing everything Zachariah and Ethan had told her, still trying to convince herself that everything was being okay even though she was feeling sick with worry and fear of what was to come. Jade put her head backwards and looked at the sky. It was darkening at a rapid rate and the temperature was dropping. Something which the bare armed Jade really didn't appreciate. The cool breeze wasn't helping either but above all she was hungry. They had stopped only to eat some slightly stale bread that Zachariah had packed. He claimed that they needed to save as much of the little food they had, anything could happen and they might need it. That was was had bothered her, the 'anything can happen' part. It got her thinking, if dragons existed in this world what else did? She didn't dare ask, she wasn't entirely sure she even wanted to know. Jade caught a whiff of something, it smelt slightly familiar. It reminded her of sunny days when she and Katie went on a girl holiday to florida, just the two of them, just after she had finally turned 18. It was the ocean. Soon enough she could hear it too but her vision wasn't great in the fading light. Jade watched as Zachariah guided his horse to towards a line of trees in front of them. Great, Jade thought, more woods. They had been walking through woods all day, up and down the mountains until they had reached the last mountain in the Kingdoms range and descended the rocky path in plain view of anyone looking on. She had been thankful to be out in the open though, the trees had made her feel on edge. There was something about the atmosphere that didn't feel right, that and the fact that she had seen Ethan walk through them with his right hand placed firmly on his sword, as though he half expected and attack. Jade looked up again and watched the crescent moon vanished behind the thick, tall trees of the woods. She sighed and brought her head back down but she was water. Within a few minutes they had some out of the woods and were stood by the edge of what looked like the ocean.

"We will have to stop here tonight. The eagles have stopped taking passengers for the day." Zachariah informed them as he skillfully dismounted his horse in one smooth motion. Eagles? Jade questioned in her mind. The water in front of her was almost black in the little light provided by the moon. It was a tiny beach, shaped like moon above them while the dark woods behind them. Ethan jumped down from his horse and walked around to her side. He stopped in front of Jade and looked up at her.

"Do you need assistance in dismounting your horse my Lady?" He asked in a concerned voice. Jade looked down at the ground. It was pretty far down and she couldn't really feel her legs. She looked up him and scrunched her face a little. Ethan understood her answer without her muttering a word. He held his arms out towards her. "May I?" Jade looked at him and frowned a little.

"Er yeah?" She wasn't really sure what he was asking her. Ethan placed his outstretched hands on her small waist and lifted her down as though she weighed nothing at all. Jade was thankful when her feet touched the ground but as soon as Ethan let go of her her knees buckled and she began to fall forward. On pure instinct Ethan stuck his arm out and caught her. Jade clung to him for support, she could feel the power in his arms. The defined muscle of the hours of training he did day in day out. His armour was cold but his large hand on the small of her back was the warmest thing she had felt in hours. Jade tilted her head up to the left and noticed how close her was, close enough to feel the warmth of his face, close enough to realise how handsome he really was. Jade's could feel her face beginning to become red. She pushed herself off him and looked away, she couldn't look at his face and she certainly didn't want him to see her blushing.

"Are you alright my lady?" He questioned still leaving his arm where it was in case she fell again.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks. Just a little sore." That was a lie, her legs and butt were incredible sore but she didn't wanted to seem weak. Not in front of get someone who's strength and overbearing sense of power was intimidating up close.